that the White House is proposing to cut funding to NASA\u2019s science programs by nearly 50% in its fiscal year 2026 budget request<\/a>. That would include canceling several missions in development, such as the Roman Space Telescope and Mars Sample Return, and likely terminating many ongoing missions in extended operations.<\/p>\nIsaacman said in responses to several questions that he was not involved with the development of the 2026 budget proposal and not aware of its details. \u201cI have not reviewed or been party to any official discussions, but a ~50% reduction to NASA\u2019s science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome,\u201d he said in response to a question from the committee\u2019s ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), if he supported such a cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf confirmed, I will advocate for strong investment in space science\u2014across astrophysics, planetary science, Earth science, lunar science, and heliophysics\u2014and for securing as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate,\u201d he wrote, answering another question on science funding from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).<\/p>\n
That includes appearing to break with the White House on the future of the Roman Space Telescope. \u201cTo my knowledge, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is nearing completion and remains on schedule and within budget\u2014something that is unfortunately rare for flagship programs at the agency,\u201d he said in response to another question from Schatz. \u201cI\u2019m not aware of any reason why it should be canceled, and I would support its completion and successful deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked by the committee\u2019s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), if the Mars Sample Return program should be \u201coutsourced to industry,\u201d citing a proposal to do so from Rocket Lab, Isaacman offered a one-word response: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting Artemis \u201cback on track\u201d<\/p>\n
A second theme of the questions involved NASA\u2019s Artemis effort and suggestions by Isaacman at the hearing that a human return to the moon could be done in parallel with plans for human missions to Mars. \u201cWe could be paralleling these efforts and doing the near-impossible,\u201d he said at the hearing.<\/p>\n
Asked by Cantwell which he would choose if there was funding for only the moon or Mars, he picked the moon. \u201cGiven existing law, I would prioritize the Artemis program,\u201d he wrote, but continued to argue that doing the moon and Mars in parallel was feasible, without going into detail on how it could be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, NASA managed multiple complex programs simultaneously\u2014Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo\u2014in an era with far less technological capability than we possess today,\u201d he said, not noting the differences in budgets between NASA at the peak of the Apollo program in the mid-1960s and today. \u201cMore than six decades later, with the advances in industry and innovation, I believe the world\u2019s premier space agency should be capable of executing multiple major initiatives at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reiterated his support for the Space Launch System and Orion as the fastest way to return to the moon, while supporting for a shift to commercial systems once that is done. \u201cOnce those obligations have been met,\u201d he said of returning humans to the moon, \u201cI believe NASA should transition away from competing with the commercial sector and instead focus its world-class talent and infrastructure on developing the next generation of exploration technologies\u2014including nuclear spaceships\u2014as a logical next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf confirmed, I will focus on getting Artemis back on track,\u201d he wrote in an answer to a question from\u00a0 Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) about Artemis. \u201cThat means working alongside NASA leadership, commercial partners, and program managers to address the root causes of delays\u2014 bureaucracy, program misalignment, and lack of accountability\u2014and restoring a mission-first culture across the agency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cruz, in one question, expressed concern \u201cabout suggestions that the United States abandon the statutory requirement for NASA to maintain a material presence on or near the Moon.\u201d He asked Isaacman he supported the \u201csustained human presence\u201d specified by a NASA authorization act in 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m committed to following the law\u2014and as a lifelong space enthusiast, I would like nothing more than to see lunar operations become continuous, enduring, and routine,\u201d Isaacman wrote in response, but called for \u201cflexible policies\u201d to enable that.<\/p>\n
Musk ties<\/p>\n
A third theme of the questions involved ties between Isaacman and Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX who has also been a close adviser to President Trump.<\/p>\n
Isaacman said in response to numerous questions he is not close to Musk and does not talk with him often. \u201cI do not have a close personal relationship with Mr. Musk. While I\u2019ve spoken with him occasionally over the years in my capacity as a SpaceX customer, I would describe our interactions as professional,\u201d he said in response to a question from Cantwell. \u201cI admire and respect his contributions to space and technology, but it would be inaccurate to characterize our relationship as close.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called \u201c1000% false\u201d a report by the Wall Street Journal in March<\/a> that claimed that Musk contacted Isaacman late last year to see if he was interested in being NASA administrator, stating that he was contacted by the co-chair of the transition team, Howard Lutnick, about the job. He also denied that he spoke frequently with Michael Altenhofen, a SpaceX official who now serves as a senior adviser at NASA.<\/p>\nIsaacman said he has not spoken with Musk after the election last November on NASA issues. However, in a reprise of an exchange with Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) at the confirmation hearing, Isaacman repeated declined to directly answer if Musk was present when then President-elect Trump offered him the nomination.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy interview was with the President of the United States,\u201d he wrote in response to three questions from Markey about the meeting. \u201cThe person asking me questions\u2014and ultimately offering me the opportunity\u2014was the President himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman says he would, if necessary, prioritize the Artemis lunar exploration campaign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2036,295,11617,874,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-49745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-artemis","9":"tag-elon-musk","10":"tag-jared-isaacman","11":"tag-nasa","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114399392911678007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}